The future is an interesting place to go. Readers of this blog will primarily find articles considering how technology and education may increasingly cause and experience disruption as the future unfolds.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Personalized Learning and Technology

There seems to a buzz building around Personalized Learning in British Columbia (BC). We’ve heard bits and pieces here and there and that there are “secret” meetings in Victoria about this and the coming education agenda. Intriguing isn’t it. I’m looking forward to hearing more and to being a participant.

Our Superintendent recently shared a video from New Brunswick at our Welcome Back meeting. It’s a pretty exciting vision of 21st century education. Technology is certainly a key lever to these changes.

From Wikipedia “Personalized Learning is the tailoring of pedagogy, curriculum and learning support to meet the needs and aspirations of individual learners”. The article goes on to suggest that personalized learning gives the learner more choice about what is learned and how and when it is learned. In other words, it is learner focused, not teacher focused. Alberta Education has produced an Inspiring Education resource to share their vision for the future of education in 2030 where it “Envisions students who are engaged, ethical and entrepreneurial”.

There seems to be a heightened awareness that our current education system, designed for a much different era of industrialization and basic literacy, needs a healthy overhaul. This video on the Alberta Inspiring Education site speaks to rethinking grades, the number of years “in school”, etc. These are fundamental structures and standards that will be difficult to move away from but it’s encouraging to see governments actually questioning them.

I’m currently half way through reading Sir Ken Robinson’s latest book. Many of you will probably remember his famous TED talk (see below) “Do schools kill creativity”. He tells many interesting stories about people who found their “Element” but in indirect ways. Their journeys are very personalized and involved freedom and support to choose their path. To quote Sir Ken, “The Element has two main features, and there are two conditions for being in it. The features are aptitude and passion. The conditions are attitude and opportunity. The sequence goes something like this: I get it; I love it; I want it; Where is it?” Personalized Learning may be the way we help people find their “Element”…

I think it is important to note (my opinion) that technology (in general) is now the key driver of almost every change, good or bad. Technology in its many forms has an exponential change curve. With each successive innovation, the we travel the exponential curve faster – ie, the leading edge is becoming shorter and the trailing edge steeper. Just think back 100 years at how long some changes took and short recent ones take. The adoption and saturation of new innovations is becoming shorter each decade. Many of us feel like change is relentless… well, that’s the effect of exponential change curves. The changes we will see by 2020 will eclipse anything we experienced from 2000-2010.

Technology is not the only factor in Personalized Learning. Part of being human is being relational, working together, supporting each other, being a team player, thinking ethically, having moral perspective, learning to lead, knowing how to follow, etc. These skills and abilities are as crucial to future success, I believe more so, as are ICT skills and abilities. In fact the human factors are more important than ever. I wrote a summary for a conference (World Future Society) I recently attended and when you consider the changes we’re facing over the next 20 years, the human element is clearly the most important to develop in young learners.

I wonder what others are thinking about the future of education. Where does Personalized Learning sit with you? How do you see technology fitting in? Is it a support, a change agent, a danger, … we have big challenges ahead with major moral dilemmas to face. What form of education will prepare learners for this future?

About Me

I lead and oversee the technology group for a large K12 school district in British Columbia. In my spare time I read, mountain bike, snowboard, and occasionally hike. On a personal note, I have three grown boys and an amazing wife who is a fearless learner and my best friend. I am the CIO for Vancouver School Board. Find me on twitter: @bkuhn